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Over at the Faculty Lounge Al Brophy highlights a dramatic story out of Virginia about homeowners association that destroyed itself in a protracted lawsuit over a yard sign:

[The board of the homeowners association] passed a resolution allowing the board to fine residents up to $900
per infraction for violating HOA guidelines. Across the country, fining
authority has been controversial, with HOAs hitting residents with
levies for such transgressions as displays of colored Christmas lights
and patches of dead grass.

Board members believed that they had
the right under Virginia law, but the Farrans saw an illegal power grab
that had no basis in the HOA’s covenants. When the board, acting at a
meeting that was not publicly announced, rejected the Farrans’ roof and
deck projects for aesthetic and architectural reasons, the Farrans said
it was retribution.

“It’s like we weren’t living in America,” Maria Farran said. “You are
always one board election away from a tyranny. They wield enormous
power.” The Farrans filed a lawsuit against the HOA saying it
didn’t have the authority to impose fines and had vindictively rejected
their home improvements.